Life As We Know It
by x0x0.roxy
Summary: OC. Sarah is entering her fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but what she doesn't realize is the most complicated thing in her life right now is balancing her group of Gryffindor friends with her childhood friend, Draco Malfoy, and how everything is about to change.
1. The Past

Sarah bid her friends goodbye and made her way from the common room of the dormitory to the school library two floors up. This was no ordinary boarding school, however, it was a school for those gifted and talented in the area of witchcraft and wizardry: Hogwarts. Sarah, along with her three best friends, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, were two weeks into their fifth year at Hogwarts. Hermione and Sarah were two of the few muggle-borns, those not born of wizarding descent, who were accepted into Hogwarts in their year. Ron, as pure a wizard as they come, was one of the four redheaded Weasleys there, along with his older twin brothers, Fred and George, and his younger sister, Ginny. And then there was Harry. Harry Potter was the infamous Boy-Who-Lived, the Chosen One. Fifteen years ago, as just an infant, he survived You-Know-Who's killing curse after the dark wizard killed his parents, weakening the wizard and driving him into hiding, up until the previous year, at least. Harry was the only person who ever survived You-Know-Who's attack, putting a huge target on his own forehead.

The four met on the Hogwarts Express their first year and became friends instantly. Sarah had struggled down the train aisle, holding onto her skittish kitten, feeling as terrified as the feline in her arms, in a train full of strangers. She came upon a half-filled compartment, containing two of her future best friends, Harry and Ron, and slid into the compartment to join the pair. She and Harry listened avidly to Ron explaining different aspects of the wizarding world, since both had been raised in muggle homes, and traded him their muggle stories. They didn't meet Hermione until later, when they were all awaiting their turn with the sorting hat with wide-eyed anticipation. All four had been sorted into Gryffindor House, and found themselves inseparable after just the first feast.

Another one of Sarah's best friends was Draco Malfoy. They remained best friends although he was in the Slytherin house, Gryffindor's rival house. Not only were the two houses rivals, but it Draco and Harry became rivals from their first encounter, much to Sarah's dismay. Her friendship with Draco was something none of her other friends could understand, and sometimes accept, but there was a side of Draco she knew that they didn't. He knew things about her that her other friends didn't, and he had been there for her through some hard times. Sarah and Draco had known each other since they were young children, since before she was invited to Hogwarts or even knew the wizarding world was more than just a fairy tale.

An eight-year-old Sarah was sitting on the carousel, her feet planted firmly on the ground, but rocking it side to side. She was looking down at her lap, turning a small toy camera over and over in her hands, and listening to the girls in the sandbox giggling. She forced herself not to look up at the girls who had only moments ago made fun of her and wouldn't let her play with them. She didn't have the latest doll and she wasn't wearing a frilly dress like the rest of them, and that made her unpopular. She wasn't your ordinary girl, she grew up in a family of artists, and mainly boys, so she would choose paint-splattered jeans and a camera over a pink dress and a doll every time.

"What's that you have there?" A small voice asked. She looked up to see a small yellow-haired boy dressed in all black, staring at her quizzically.

"A camera?" She asked, equally as quizzically as he did.

"Oh, right, I just haven't seen one that looks like that," He said coolly, realizing he'd sounded stupid. Who'd never seen a camera, after all? "You're new around here, aren't you?"

"Yes, we moved here two weeks ago," She sighed. She missed her friends back home. "I'm Sarah."

"That's a funny name," He responded. She narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything. "I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy," he said proudly. Sarah smiled, his name was much stranger than hers, but she was making a new friend and she wasn't going to be rude. "I live in the gray house over there," He pointed vaguely.

"That's not a house, it's a castle!" She responded when she realized which house he was referring to. He smiled proudly again.

"My father's a very important person," He said, arrogantly. She laughed, under the impression he was kidding, but stopped when he didn't join in. She noticed, out of the corner of her eye, the group of girls pointing at her and whispering behind their hands, and she quickly looked back down at the camera in her hands.

"You may not want to talk to me, apparently I'm the weird girl," She said quietly. Draco looked from the group of girls in the sandbox, who quieted at his glance, and back to Sarah with a dull expression.

"According to those gits?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. She giggled and shrugged. "So can I have a go on the carousel or are you going to mope on it all afternoon?" Sarah threw her head back and laughed as he ran around with the carousel, spinning faster and faster.

Draco had been the only friend she made in the neighborhood. Apparently, they were mutually destructive to each other's social status with the other kids in the park. The weird girl and the rude boy. No one wanted to be their friends, but they didn't care, they didn't like those other kids either. They met up at the park everyday, and on rainy days, he would go to her house to play. It was almost two years later when Sarah first found out about magic.

A ten-year-old Sarah was sitting on a swing at the park, rocking back and forth slowly, idly spinning the bracelet around her wrist. She stared straight ahead, her face blank, even when she felt someone sit in the swing next to hers. It felt like hours had passed before she said anything. "My mum died," She said blandly, matter-of-factly, without tearing her gaze away from dot in the distance she was staring at blankly. "Car accident, drunk driver, they say," She added.

"I know," Draco's voice said quietly from next to her. There were another few moments of silence before she spoke again.

"You're not going to tell me you're sorry for my loss and that it'll be okay, are you?"

"Not if you don't want me to."

"I don't. I had to get out of there for a minute. Everyone looks so sad. And that's all they all say to me, and that my mum was a great lady. I know she was." She told him, still gazing straight ahead. "But it doesn't help," She whispered, "It just makes me sadder. I don't want to be sad anymore, even just for a minute."

"I know," Draco responded.

She heard him moving around her but didn't shift her gaze until he was standing right in front of her, hand outstretched with a small white flower in his palm. She looked at him questioningly, but he just gave a small nod, reassuring her to just wait, and he stared at the flower. His face was so full of concentration, she tilted her head in confusion. Her eyes widened and she gasped as the small flower turned from white to pink. She let out another small gasp as it turned from pink to yellow. She started giggling as it went from yellow to purple, and Draco looked up at her smiling. She smiled back, her face full of awe, for the first time in days.

"How did you do that?" She exclaimed. She let out a squeal as it turned from purple to blue.

"Magic," He murmured.

"C'mon, really!" She whispered, watching it turn back to pink. She took it out of his hand and examined it.

"Really," He responded anxiously as she turned the flower over in her hands. "I'm a wizard. Well, I'm going to be after I go to school. Both my parents are wizards too, there's a whole lot of us that can do magic."

"You're lying," She accused. "There's no such thing as magic!"

"I'm not!" He said defensively. He stared back at the flower and, suddenly, it was floating in front of her face, a foot above the hand that was holding it half a second earlier. It did somersaults in the air in front of her and she gasped again.

"Magic?" She whispered. She reached out for the flower and looked back at Draco.

"Can you keep a secret?" He asked. She nodded avidly, and for the next hour, she was transported away from her mother's funeral to magic, dragons, wizards and witches, and flying on broomsticks, as Draco told her all about his secret world.

Sarah was good for her word of keeping his secret, but it didn't stop her from begging him to do tricks whenever there was no one around. It was the only thing that made her not feel so empty inside, especially for those few months after her mother's death. Nearly the only thing that could make her smile was Draco changing the colors of flowers, or shrinking her toys, or making sticks hover in mid-air. That is, it was the only thing until she got a weird letter from an owl that perched in her living room window.

"Look!" She said, running to where Draco was in the park, waving a piece of paper. "Hogwarts! That's where you're going, right? I got a letter!"

"What?" He asked, disbelievingly. He took the paper from her hands and read the invitation from the headmaster, Dumbledore, for Sarah to attend his magical school. "But-But—you're a muggle," He said, his eyes narrowed, "You don't belong there, you're not magical." She snatched the letter back, her turn to look disbelievingly.

"I thought you'd be happy we'd be going to the same school, but if I'm not good enough, then fine," She snapped. She stormed off, back to her house where she had a father and brother that were beyond excited for her.

Sarah didn't see Draco again that summer, until Diagon Alley, the street of wizarding shops. She was there with her father, both wide-eyed and amazed at all they saw as they shopped for her robes and books for school. She and her father were on their way into Ollivander's, the wand shop, when Draco and his father were walking out. Her father had tried speaking to Mr. Malfoy, excited and interested to see a familiar face, but he looked down his nose at her father and walked off with a sneer, with Draco in tow.

"What do you want?" Sarah snapped. It was later that night and Draco was standing outside her bedroom window.

"Just to apologize," He started before Sarah drew her curtains to shut him out. She stepped back and he climbed through her window, like the many times he had before when they'd stay up late at night whispering and laughing quietly. "Listen, I'm sorry for saying you don't belong at Hogwarts, and for the way my father acted this morning."

"It was very rude," She responded smugly.

"There are things you don't understand about the wizarding world. Things you will once you've been around it for a while," He said, slowly. "Some wizards have different beliefs than others, some you may not like," He added.

"Do you not want to be my friend anymore?" She said quietly.

"What? No!" He exclaimed in a hushed, voice. "You'll always be my best friend, no matter what happens."

He was right on that point. It wasn't easy, but they had maintained their friendship through their first four years at Hogwarts, and now starting their fifth. Their friendship had waxed and waned, hanging barely by a thread in some points, especially when Harry and Draco's rivalry raged, but Sarah always remembered the little yellow-haired boy in her bedroom telling her she would always be his best friend and didn't give up on them. Their summer holidays would reinforce their friendship, as they only had each other since their school friends were from all over. They would sneak off to their spot in the park, or he would climb in through her window, so they could whisper for hours on end.


	2. The Library

The sole reason of Sarah's Saturday night visit to the library was the Potions essay she had due the following Monday. Being a fifth year meant O.W.L. exams at the end of the year, to see if they were capable of continuing the classes they were taking to pursue a career in magic. The O.W.L.s weren't just a test, but they brought with them an extra tough year; they were only two weeks in and they already had Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts essays, a star map for Astronomy that included a lot of tough calculations, and a dream chart for Divination. Hermione was the brainiest of the group, not that Sarah wasn't smart either, and she usually kept Sarah motivated and held her accountable for doing her work, but sometimes Sarah would swap Hermione and the common room for Draco and the library. It would be the only time they could be around each other without hostility, since Draco actively hated her friends and her friends actively hated Draco.

She walked into the library and zigzagged through the stacks. She saw Draco sitting at a solitary table in the corner, the same table they always met at. He was leaning back in his chair, idly twirling his wand between his fingers. He was wearing all black, just like the first day she met him, and every day after that, but his long yellow hair was slicked back, something he adapted during their third year. She smiled as she mentally saw the transformation from the eight-year-old boy she first met to the boy sitting only feet away from her who was already a foot taller than she was. Her best friend forever, she sighed.

"Sorry I'm late. Have you been here long?" She asked, setting her book bag down and sitting across from him.

"No, not too long," He stated shortly, he must have been in one of his moods. He had a temper, it was something she assumed ran in his family, but he was usually good with not lashing out with her. She gave him an apprehensive look but he gave her a weak smile.

"So, guess what," she started with a grin, leaning back in her own seat. He raised an eyebrow at her and gave her a shrug as if to go on. "I'm thinking about trying out for the Quidditch team." He burst into laughter before he could stop himself and she looked at him, shocked.

"Sorry," He grinned. "But really? Come on."

"What?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "You don't think a girl can play?"

"Not at all," He responded. "I don't think _you_ can," He added, joking. Her jaw dropped and she shook her head. "I'm just saying, you don't have the best hand-eye coordination. And have you ever even flown a broomstick?"

"Yes, I played with Harry and Ron and his brothers over the summer and my hand-eye coordination was perfectly fine, and I was great with a broom, thank you," She said, sassily. His playful demeanor changed when she mentioned Harry and Ron and she instantly regretted her comeback.

"Compared to that lot, I'm sure you were a professional," He said with a smirk.

"Don't start," She warned, her playful demeanor now changing.

"Alright, alright," He said, putting his hands up in surrender. She shook her head, trying not to smile, and took out her books and parchment. "What's this?" He asked, grabbing her roll of parchment. "You already wrote the essay?"

"No, I started it earlier, with Hermione, but it's nowhere near finished." He grimaced at the sound of Hermione's name out of habit, but he didn't dare say anything.

She snatched her parchment back and opened her books to work, annoyed with how he was rude about her friends to her. They worked relatively quietly, minus the scratching of quills and flipping of book pages, for more than an hour when Sarah looked at Draco's parchment only to see a few lines written. He gave her his sheepish grin and shrugged. Sarah knew that grin well; it was his get-out-of-trouble and most charming grin. Normally, girls would fall all over themselves when Draco flashed his smile; she'd seen it happen time and time again. He was popular with the ladies, from the countless stories Sarah heard. Sarah remained immune to his charm, though. She grew up with the boy, after all, she knew all his little tricks.

"So you're not writing the essay, then?" She wondered. He just stared at her as if he was sizing her up.

"It's not like it matters, really. I'm probably going to get top marks, you know Snape loves me," he stated matter-of-factly. He was too arrogant for his own good, but he was probably right. Snape was not only the Potions professor who greatly disliked Sarah, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but he was also the Slytherin head of house.

"I know," She groaned. "You should put in a good word, I don't know why he hates us so much," She mumbled. She knew she should have bitten her tongue as soon as she said 'us,' but it was too late to take it back now.

"Well, maybe because that Weasley's an idiot, and Scarhead, an arrogant jerk. And Granger, well she's just a filthy mudbl—" He caught himself, seeing the horrified look on her face, and realized he made a huge mistake. "Sarah—no—I didn't—"

"Didn't mean it?" She asked, furiously, "You forget I'm Muggle-born too, don't you? Or do you just pretend like I'm not so you don't feel bad about talking to me? I thought we were supposed to be best friends, Dray. But I guess I was wrong. Maybe people don't change, maybe you'll just always be a pureblood elitist, and after all, you're just a product of your environment, right? I've put up with enough, I deserve better. You obviously don't care enough to censor yourself about my friends in front me." She rambled, frustrated. He tried to talk but she kept cutting him off, so he just listened to her furious speech.

She stood up and packed her books in her bag, her hands trembling with rage. She was shaking her head, furious thoughts swimming in her head. She was about to storm off, but the next thing she knew, he had rounded the table and taken her by the waist. It seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. She was cornered, pinned. His body was pushing hers up against the wall, but his arms around her waist pulling her closer to him. His lips were pressing against hers, softly but forcefully. Her mouth unconsciously opened and his tongue snaked its way in.

Her eyes closed and she started kissing him back, her hands wrapping around his neck, as if her body was on auto pilot. Their lips moved in perfect harmony. For all she knew, it could have been ten seconds or ten minutes that passed before he pulled back. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked into his, her mouth still slightly open, heart pounding. His light grey eyes were narrowed, his brow furrowed, searching her face for a reaction.

"Sarah—" He murmured.

"I have to go," She whispered, twisting out of his hold. She grabbed her bag off the table and rushed to the library exit without another word. She put her fingers up to her lips, which were still tingling.

Her body felt like it was still on autopilot and her expression remained unchanged as she walked back to the Gryffindor tower. A million thoughts were running through her head all at once, none of which were comprehensible. Draco just kissed her, the most passionate kiss she had by far. And she kissed back. Draco, the boy who had been her best friend since age eight. Draco, the boy who was trash-talking her best friends and had offended her only seconds prior.

Without realizing it, she was already in the common room. She heard her name being called by a few different voices, but they seemed so far away. She heard herself mutter something about just wanting to sleep and went straight to her four-poster bed in the girls' dormitory. She was in no condition to hold up an intelligent conversation, and she couldn't imagine how her friends would react to this bit of information. It was one thing she was friends with a boy they hated, but it was another if she was off kissing him in corners of the library. She drew the drapes around her bed and lay back. She genuinely wanted to sleep, but her thoughts were swarming her mind. She resolved to stop trying to make any sense out of what he did, because she couldn't, and tried to sort out her feelings. Overwhelmed, that was one of them for sure. At some point lost in her thoughts, she drifted to sleep.

She awoke with a start the next morning. She tried to recall her series of weird dreams, but she couldn't remember even one, all she knew was they made her feel strange. She remembered the kiss, hoping it was one of her dreams, but knowing it wasn't. She put her face in her hands and groaned. That was the last thing she needed right now, another complicator in her life.

She finally made her way to the Great Hall to catch the tail end of breakfast. She saw her friends at the Gryffindor table and slumped in a seat across from Harry and Ron, next to Hermione with her face in a book. She poured herself a tall glass of orange juice and scooping a helping of eggs onto her plate. She looked up from her drink to see Ron and Harry staring at her.

"Yes?" She asked, confusedly.

"What was your deal last night?" Ron asked. "Ow!" He yelped, and Sarah guessed that Hermione kicked him under the table.

"You were acting strange, we were just worried," Hermione added.

"Thanks, you guys, I was just tired," Sarah lied. "I guess the stress got to me, you know," She said, appealing to Hermione specifically. It worked, because Hermione nodded sympathetically.

"We're going to Hagrid's for a bit after breakfast, do you want to come?" Harry asked, pulling Sarah out of her thoughts again. She looked past his shoulder and saw Draco at the Slytherin table, staring at her intently, and her stomach lurched.

"Yes, I think I'd like that," Sarah responded, tearing her eyes away from Draco to Harry. A visit to Hagrid was exactly what she needed.


	3. The Next Step

"Harry," Sarah whispered across the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, "How about an impromptu Hogsmeade trip this afternoon?" She asked in a low voice.

It was early the next Saturday morning, a week after the library incident. Sarah had seen Draco in Potions multiple times that week, and they'd passed each other in the hallways, but they didn't speak about their kiss, or speak at all. It was unusual for them, but Sarah almost preferred it. She hadn't thought of him in that light before, but now she didn't know what she thought.

"You must be joking!" Hermione scoffed at her from her other side. "After everything that happened last term, how can you even think about asking Harry to sneak out of the castle?"

"Hermione, You-Know-Who isn't going to jump out from behind the bar in The Three Broomsticks to finish Harry off," Ron responded. Sarah stifled a laugh.

"It's not safe, and it's not smart," Hermione hissed, sparking an argument with Ron. Sarah instantly regretted saying anything.

"We have Quidditch tryouts so I don't know if I can anyway," Harry responded.

"I know, I meant after," Sarah said with a grin, "I'm coming to tryouts."

"Blimey, you're going for the team?" Ron interjected. Sarah shrugged.

Sarah, Ron, and Hermione walked down to the Quidditch pitch where a slew of Gryffindors were waiting nervously on the field. Sarah joined the group that was trying out as Ron and Hermione took seats in the stands. Moments later, the Gryffindor Quidditch team joined them on the field. Harry, the Seeker, along with Fred and George, the two beaters, and Alicia Spinetti, one of the chasers and the captain, addressed the group in front of them. The team needed two more chasers and a keeper, and after they were divided into the two groups, everyone took flight.

The wind rushed through Sarah's hair and she felt free, her mind finally clear. Hovering fifty feet over the pitch, she took in the scenery. She could see across the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. She could actually see the whole pitch, the stands, the sporadic crowds sitting in the stands. She saw some Hufflepuff's lingering, they'd had their tryouts just before Gryffindor, and Ravenclaws filing in, their tryouts were next. She heard Alicia announce they were going to fly circles around the pitch and she followed Ginny who was flying in front of her.

After an hour in the air, throwing Quaffles and dodging Bludgers, even taking turns as Keepers, they finally landed back where they'd started. Sarah and Ginny joined Ron and Hermione while the current team convened to make their decisions. Ron was surprised and impressed with how well both his sister and friend flew, and Sarah didn't know whether it was a compliment or if she should be offended. Moments later, Alicia addressed the group to announce that Sarah and Ginny were the new chasers and a seventh year named Dylan would be the keeper.

The whole of the Gryffindor crowd went back to the Great Hall to catch lunch, but only twenty minutes in, Fred and George rustled the group back to the common room for a celebration. They clambered through the portrait hole into a common room filled with sweets from Honeyduke's and bottles of butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. Nobody asked how the boys how they managed to put this together, but Sarah and her friends knew all about the Marauder's Map and the secret passageway to Honeyduke's. It was the same passageway Harry and Sarah would take hours later to go to Hogsmeade.

"No, I'm not going to look for trouble and I don't think you should either," Hermione lectured when Sarah told her they were going to Hogsmeade.

"It's only for an hour, there's no harm," Sarah whispered. Hermione shook her head again as Harry, Ron, and Sarah shrugged and snuck out of the portrait hole before anyone could see them.

They found the statue that guarded the passageway and Sarah climbed in after Harry and Ron. Her friends just wanted to go to Zonko's joke shop, but Sarah's sole reason for the trip to Hogsmeade was to buy a present for her dad. The following day was her mother's birthday, but after she passed, they made it a tradition to buy each other presents to celebrate life instead of being sad. Her friends didn't really understand it, but they also didn't know the full story, she didn't talk about her mum with them much.

A couple hours later, with pockets full of goodies from Zonko's, the trio crept back through the passageway to the castle. They made it back to the common room in time to follow a crowd of students to the Great Hall for dinner. Hermione was giving them the cold shoulder, still angry with them for leaving, but lightened up when Ron handed her the spell-checking quill and color-changing ink they bought her. After she was finished eating, Sarah pocketed a couple biscuits and left her friends at the table to go to the Owlery.

"Hello, Hedwig," Sarah said to Harry's snowy-white owl perched amongst the school's owls. Hedwig gave her a quiet hoot. "Will you make a delivery for me? It's very important," She told the bird. Hedwig looked down her beak at Sarah, as if unsure. Sarah pulled a biscuit out of her pocket and offered it to Hedwig, who hooted happily and picked at it when Sarah set it down. "Ow!" Sarah yelped as a small ball of fluff hit the side of her head. "Hey, Pig," She said to Ron's small, hyper owl. "I have one for you, too," She pulled out another biscuit and stuck it in the owl's beak. Pig perched on top of her head as it ate the biscuit. "Please don't shit on my head," Sarah muttered.

"You've got something on your head there," Sarah heard a voice behind her say, moments later. She jumped at the sound, her quill scratching across the parchment she was writing to her father. She turned to see Draco leaning against the entryway, his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face. Her eyes widened for a second but she smiled back.

"You scared me, _and_ messed up my letter," She shook her head at him. The owl gave a small hoot and flew away.

"Sorry," He responded with a smirk, "I'm sure it'll be fine." He sauntered over to the table she was standing at and took the trick camera sitting in front of her in his hands.

"Tomorrow's my mum's birthday," She said quietly.

"I know," He answered, he was the only person who really knew about their tradition. "Your dad will love this," He said with a smile. He snapped a picture of Sarah before she could stop him and the Polaroid came out. He laughed as he showed her the picture. The Sarah in the photograph was wearing X-ray goggles and there were fireworks exploding behind her.

"Wow," She laughed. She took the picture from him and slid it into the envelope.

"So you think he's going to gift you a broom now that you're on the Quidditch team?" Draco asked a second later when she'd gone back to writing the letter. "I have to admit, you're a pretty decent flyer, but you'll be better off with a nicer broom than those CleanSweeps the school has." She narrowed her eyes at him, wonderingly. "I watched you today, I guess you're not half bad."

"I accept your apology," Sarah joked. He gave her a smirk but didn't respond. How had she not seen him in the pitch? She thought she'd seen everything from up in the air. "Are you intimidated by the competition, Malfoy?"

"Not in the slightest, Bennett," He said with a smirk.

"You don't sound as confident as you think," Sarah joked. She sealed the envelope and began wrapping the trick camera and tied some yarn around it.

"So, about last weekend," Draco started. Sarah was tying her package around Hedwig's ankle. She looked over at Draco and he was staring at her intensely, his eyes bore into hers.

"You don't have to, I mean, we don't," Sarah said, "It's okay." She stroked Hedwig and the owl flew away with a hoot.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"I mean that it just kinda happened. We don't have to do the whole talking thing," She responded. In only two swift steps, he was standing only inches away from her, looking down into her eyes. Her heart started racing. "We're good as friends, no need to complicate it."

"Let me do the talking," He told her. "It didn't 'just kinda happen,' Sarah. I wanted to kiss you. My feelings for you have grown so much, I like you more than you can imagine. I want more. Complicated is okay, our friendship has been complicated. We can do complicated." His grey eyes were more intense than ever.

"I just don't know, Dray," She responded slowly. "I don't know if this is the smartest move. There are so many girls that, I know for a fact, fancy you. Better girls, more your type," She added the last part in a lower voice.

"This isn't a game of Wizarding Chess where you plan your moves. This is life, you have to live," Draco said wisely. Sarah tried not to laugh; this wasn't a typical Draco statement. "And what does that mean? My type?" He asked.

"Well, like that Pansy girl, in your house, the one that swoons every time you blink," She groaned, hating herself for sounding jealous. He gave a slightly disgusted look and shook his head. "I just mean you two are more compatible, predictable. Your families share the same values," She added carefully. "Let's not play pretend. I'm not a pureblood, Draco, nowhere near. I'm muggle-born. I'm not exactly someone you can take home to mum and dad. Now more than ever," She explained, she took a step back, shaking her head.

"I don't care about that," He scoffed. "Those are my father's views, not mine. And I don't care what my father has to think about it either." She looked at him as if she didn't believe him and he groaned.

"Please," She scoffed this time, "You wouldn't even say hello at the Quidditch World Cup because of your father."

He frowned, "There are just some things you wouldn't understand about my family," He started, "But that was just a moment of weakness, it doesn't really reflect my feelings at all."

"You say that now," She said quietly.

"I know what I want, Sarah, and I want you. I want to kiss you again, and I think you want me to as well," He murmured, a glint in his eye. She searched his face, not really giving him an answer. "Can you honestly say you can't like me in the way I like you? That absolutely no part of you wants this? If you can, I'll back off, and I'll never bring it up again."

"No," She whispered helplessly. "And that makes me nervous."

"Do you trust me?"

"Last time you asked me that, we were eleven and I just about flipped over the top of the swing set and nearly broke my neck." She thought back to that warm spring day at the park. He'd stepped up showing off his miniscule magic skills to seeing how high he could make them swing or how fast he could make the carousel spin. His signature grin spread across his face.

"But I didn't let you get hurt, remember?" He murmured, taking her face in his hands and pulling her even closer. He closed what little gap was left between them and pressed his lips to hers.

"What does this mean? What now?"


End file.
